Myanmar government: Aid should be open and transparent for good development

In Myanmar, the aid industry is booming. Since elections in 2010 heralded political reforms and tentative steps toward democracy, international donors and organizations have been quick to commit money and resources. In a country still ranked as one of Southeast Asia’s poorest, this holds exciting potential to help millions out of poverty. Yet if assistance is rushed and poorly managed, this also poses serious dangers — something government officials seem keen to avoid. As part of a drive toward greater aid effectiveness, Myanmar became a signatory to the International Aid Transparency Initiative in September 2014 and is now pioneering a new aid tracking database. The “aid information management system” requires all donors to share data on development assistance provided to Myanmar, broken down by sector, location and volume. Once finalized, the system will be online and freely available to the public. Anyone will be able to export the information and combine with other data sets — a powerful tool for those wanting to better understand flows of money into Myanmar. In an exclusive first interview with international media, the Myanmar government’s Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development stressed to Devex that donor aid transparency is crucial to support the country’s development. “Our vision is to move toward a situation where we can be sure that all international assistance to Myanmar is being used as effectively as possible,” an official from the planning ministry told Devex. “We see aid transparency as one way to improve mutual accountability.” While donors to Myanmar are currently transparent about their assistance to the country, they are not yet able to provide a detailed breakdown of actual disbursements to ministries and agencies, the planning ministry’s Director General U Tun Tun Naing said. “Without access to this information, Myanmar’s ability to lead development efforts is hampered,” the ministry told Devex. The aid tracking database aims to help address this gap, an aspiration some donors — including the European Union — have been quick to praise. The EU provides substantial funding and technical assistance to aid effectiveness initiatives in Myanmar, including the development of AIMS. “The value provided by an effective aid tracking system is that it allows for relevant development stakeholders … to quickly understand not only who is doing what where, but what results they are achieving.” Roland Kobia, the EU ambassador to Myanmar, explained to Devex. According to U Tun Tun Naing, 45 of the biggest donors to Myanmar have now filled in initial information in the AIMS, indicating a promising start. Apart from the EU, other development partners Devex spoke to were all optimistic about the initiative. “I think it’s admirable it’s been set up; relatively low cost, relatively quickly. I think it provides a good framework,” said Gavin McGillivray, head of the U.K. Department for International Development in Myanmar. “[But] it is really going to depend on getting donors to put good data in.” Building an aid architecture from scratch The AIMS is just one part of wider attempts by the Myanmar government and its development partners to build up the country’s aid architecture. This should facilitate meaningful coordination between the government and donors, avoiding overlap in funding or projects and helping assistance to be more strategic. Since the previously isolated country opened up in 2010, Myanmar has gone — to use the industry jargon — from “aid orphan” to “donor darling,” with concerns raised by some that the increasing levels of assistance are “too much too soon.” Andy Benfield, a development effectiveness consultant based in Yangon, told Devex that aid effectiveness efforts are critical for this reason. “With many donors entering the country and pledging significant amounts of aid, it is vital for government, parliament and citizens to know who is doing what, where,” he said. “This will enable the country to really ‘own’ the assistance it receives, ensuring that it fits the local context and is aligned with national priorities. It also helps make donors accountable as people can see exactly what they are doing and achieving.” A number of cornerstone policies and structures have already been established. The Naypyitaw Accord, an ambitious charter outlining government and donor commitments to aid best practice, was introduced in 2013 after the country’s first national development coordination forum. Pending the completion of a national development plan, another document, the “Framework for Economic and Social Reform,” sets out a preliminary vision for development in Myanmar. Development partners have regular working group meetings with government representatives, while sector working groups covering areas such as health and education, have been established and aim to bring together line ministries, donors and other actors such as international nongovernmental organizations or civil society groups. Building an aid architecture like this from scratch presents a unique opportunity for Myanmar to capitalize on its “latecomers advantage.” People can attempt to avoid hazards such as aid fragmentation that have blighted other countries in the region. “Fortunately we don’t have any kind of legacy, existing systems — we really have the opportunity,” planning ministry Director U Htun Zaw said. Toily Kurbanov, country representative for the U.N. Development Program in Myanmar agrees, and is optimistic about the progress made to date. “We do have a space now, which we didn’t have two years ago, where development partners and government come together and share their views about a sector area of work, or a thematic area of work,” he said. It’s not what you do; it’s how you do it However, structures are only as good as their utilization. The packed agenda of meetings, working groups and initiatives look good on paper but are empty gestures if no one actually shares information. Myanmar is still in the early stages of transition and it faces myriad challenges in terms of securing real aid effectiveness. U Tin Maung Than, director of local think tank The Centre for Economic and Social Development, is among those who are skeptical of current progress, warning that donors keen to impose frameworks with “visions” and “targets” on Myanmar have scant appreciation for the complexities of the current transition. “They don’t understand at all what change means,” he told Devex. “Change starts with a little seed in your mind. … Then you are asking that seed ‘tell us about your tree, how do you see it?’ … You need to have enormous flexibility. And then technically, there [are] no such aid tools [for this].” In the move from military dictatorship to quasi-democratic rule, research fellow U Than Tun explained that the government has to learn an entirely new language and way of working. It has gone from “command and control language, to inclusive language now,” he said. “Before [the government] didn’t need to understand aid modalities, they didn’t need to understand donor language.” This can lead to misunderstanding and frustration that donors are all talk and no action, or expectations that “that donor assistance will fix these things,” U Than Tun added. Meanwhile, the sheer administrative burden of coordinating all this assistance is vast. Basic obstacles can get in the way of meaningful communication, like the fact that government ministries are located in the capital Naypyitaw, while almost all donors still have their base in Yangon, a five-hour drive away. Underfinanced and underresourced ministries making the transition into democratic forms of governance are unused to new ways of working and struggle to cope with the overwhelming number of requests for meetings and information from international actors keen to enter into the arena. “It is very rushed. We are trying to do many things at the same time, so that I think is the biggest challenge,” U Htun Zaw of the national planning ministry said. Similarly, although there is ample rhetoric around ensuring that foreign assistance is Myanmar-led, the reality is more fraught. The many political agendas of donor governments do not always align with the national vision for development, while the national development plan is a long time coming. “There will always be a collection of agendas from international donors and international organizations,” Oxfam’s Policy and Communications Manager Jasmine Burnley explained to Devex. “The whole purpose of aid effectiveness is to ensure that the investments made are made for the purpose of poverty reduction, reducing inequality and humanitarian suffering. That’s why it’s really important to have that space opened up to civil society.” Although the planning ministry highlights “people-centered development” as one of four pillars for Myanmar’s development plan, civil society has yet to be properly brought on board. Many civil society groups — including local network organization Food Security Working Group, which represents more than 150 national and international groups — are not yet part of many of the sector working groups. “We are not included,” Ohnmar Khaing, the organization’s coordinator, said, “[Donors] really need to consult with the civil society.” A look forward There are no easy solutions to the plethora of challenges facing Myanmar in terms of making development assistance truly effective. However, efforts toward greater transparency are an encouraging step in the right direction — with practical, grounded initiatives such as AIMS demonstrating a commitment to follow words with action. But as a database, AIMS depends on the quality and regularity of the information submitted. “One way that development partners can ensure the system remains a useful tool is to incorporate reporting into AIMS as part of their overall project management and implementation cycle,” the planning ministry told Devex. “Development partners can also ensure the system is accurate by encouraging each other to report their assistance into the AIMS, because in doing so, everybody benefits.” EU Ambassador Kobia has greater visions for how transparency can also influence democratic progress. “We also encourage the media to utilize the information made available through AIMS to keep the people of Myanmar informed so that they, in turn, can hold their government accountable and generate discussion and debate in Myanmar society,” he said. Oxfam’s Burnley agrees. “Ultimately, aid can be quite a helpful tool — not just in terms of filling gaps, but in helping provide resources to improve regulation and also to create space for civil society and the public to engage with policymaking,” she noted. “That’s what good aid should look like. And the transparency agenda is part of that. … I would challenge the donors to see this as more than an administrative exercise, but an exercise in democratic progress.” The aid information management system is slated for launch in the next few months. Check out more insights and analysis provided to hundreds of Executive Members worldwide, and subscribe to the Development Insider to receive the latest news, trends and policies that influence your organization.